The world has come to a new era with information technology being progressed rapidly. Various types of computer-related products are commercially available due to the fast progress in computer science and electronics. The fast development of such new products not only brings a lot of convenience but also is closely associated with our daily life and work. In response to various newly available computer-related products, especially notebook computers (hereinafter called notebooks), people become more critical with respect to the features and/or quality thereof. Thus, whether portable computers (e.g., notebooks) can provide a more convenient and effective service to users will be an indicator to decide whether the manufacturing technology of computer-related products of one country is more advanced than other countries. For notebook, as self-explanatory, means that a computer can be easily opened or closed just like opening or closing a looseleaf notebook. Notebooks are advantageous for being slim, compact, lightweight, and portable. The notebook generally comprises a display, a housing, and at least one hinge coupled between the display and the housing. In an inoperable position the display is rested upon the housing. For using the notebook, a user can pivot the display to position at an optimum angle with respect to the housing. Thereafter, the user can enter data through a keyboard on the housing and the data is then processed by the notebook. Next, information is sent to the display via a cable. Finally, the information is shown on the screen of the display for viewing.
Nowadays, a wide variety of computer software packages are available. Most software packages are designed to run on a window based operating system (e.g., widely used Microsoft Windows). A keyboard comprises a number of direction keys. A user may experience inconvenience and difficulty in manipulating a notebook if the user only uses the direction keys. As such, at least one pointing device is provided on a notebook in addition to the typical keyboard so as to facilitate the manipulation of the notebook by moving or rolling the pointing device around.
Currently, mouse is the most widely employed input device other than the keyboard. Mouse is a pointing device which as defined, means a computer peripheral that allows you to control your computer by moving a pointer on the screen. Moreover, pointing devices similar to mouse are constantly developed and/or improved as time evolves and are widely employed in notebooks. Gradually, such pointing devices become integral parts of a notebook. For example, a pointing device (e.g., touch pad) is one of the most widely employed components in a notebook. A touch pad is advantageous for being ease of manipulation. In short, a user may press the finger(s) on the touch pad and move the touch pad toward a desired direction in the process of controlling the pointing direction of the cursor.
In addition to a mouse port on one side of a well known notebook, typically another port adapted to couple to a cable is provided on the same side. The cable is adapted to interconnect another port and a peripheral device for data transfer. Alternatively, another port adapted to couple to a flash drive is provided. In a case of the ports on the side of the notebook coupled to a mouse, a cable, and a flash drive, a user may remove the mouse, the cable, and the flash drive with difficulty prior to opening a CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) drive mounted on the same side as the mouse, the cable, and the flash drive ports. Unfortunately, the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive may be damaged if sufficient care is not taken in the opening. This is very inconvenient and may cause trouble to a user.
Moreover, as stated above, major notebook manufacturers dedicate to develop all-in-one notebooks. It is understood that the computer market is very competitive. Thus, it is desirable among vast consumers to provide an ergonomic, multifunctional, all-in-one, and convenient notebook having its touch pad and CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) drive arranged as a unit. By providing such notebooks, one notebook manufacturer is able to beat other rival ones in the very competitive computer market.